Online Introduction to
The English Correspondence of Saint Boniface
Edited and translated by
Edward Kylie

In the days long before e-mail, paper, pencils and pens, and the postal service, letter-writing was truly a labor. So the personal correspondence to and from a missionary monk of the 8th century in the wilds of ‘barbarous’ Germany to his native Britain must contain all that was felt important enough to transmit. No idle gossip, no blathering, just what was felt to be the most important things to be communicated.

Of course, being a devout man, as were his friends, any communication reflected their faith and training in stylistic writing formulas standard for the time.

Surprisingly, Boniface’s circle included nuns as well as other monks, and a couple of kings. He truly admired women and their talents and brains, who, in the so-called Dark Ages, were allowed to bloom in many spheres, including the monasteries.

Unfortunately, Kylie doesn’t tell us how the letters came to be preserved and where they were found.

It is an interesting look at a group of devoted friends who preserved, with a great deal of trouble, their connections throughout their lives.

The Introductory Sketch by Kylie is very thorough, very interesting, and takes up a fifth of the book.

Meet a Saint and meet a nun named Bugga, and their ‘social network’ — CLICK HERE.